South African Tourism
Content and strategy
The brief
South African Tourism, the country’s official tourist board, wanted to create a campaign presenting South Africa to British travellers, who, while aware of it as a destination, may not be inclined to view the country as a first choice over other long-haul destinations.
South African Tourism didn’t want to develop new pages, sections and structures within its existing website, instead preferring a self-contained digital environment that could be included anywhere on the website, as well as on its partners’ sites.
Our approach
The campaign presents South Africa through the voices of the people who know it best: the tour guides, encouraging the British traveller to ‘meet their South Africa’.
We chose 12 guides — two per travel ‘theme’, based on the types of trips that travellers might book. These guides are featured across all the channels.
The aim of the campaign is to show the human faces behind South Africa in order to dispel misconceptions. In the process, we want to communicate that it’s a vital, vibrant place that offers an unrivalled wealth of experiences to the traveller.
Content was published across multiple channels, including a 56-page consumer magazine, a 32-page trade magazine, interactive e-zines, YouTube, and a unique lightbox-style website showcasing 12 bespoke videos. This website can be embedded on any site — allowing South African Tourism to include the content anywhere on its site without having to develop additional sections — as well as on its partners’ sites. The website was further distributed via ad-servers for a large media campaign, allowing for brand amplification.
Our results
This successful campaign engaged consumers in a variety of ways. Engagement with videos was excellent. The magazines proved very popular in both print and digital format. The campaign is being replicated around the world by the client.
